New national nurses union forms

19 A new national union of up to 154,000 registered nurses was created in Phoenix today, replacing one of the most aggressive nurse unions in the industry and combining its membership with two other nurse-only labor groups to form National Nurses United. ...

...The NNU will be governed by three co-presidents drawn from the three founding organizations. The Massachusetts group brings 23,000 members, the UAN brings up to 45,000 and the CNA/NNOC includes 86,000 nurses. Higgins said the three-member presidency was formed as "an equal partnership." ...

Nurses unions merge, back healthcare overhaul
PHOENIX (Reuters) - Three nurses unions merged on Monday to form the largest-ever labor organization for U.S. medical professionals, which is expected to wield greater clout in collective bargaining and the national healthcare debate....

...Deborah Burger, president elect of the NNU and head of its largest constituent union, the California Nurses Association, called the merger a big step.
"It's a huge day ... not only for the nursing profession, but also for our patients," she said. "We will be able to go to the halls of Congress and advocate for stronger patient protection, for better healthcare."...

I hope the new union does more of addressing healthcare reform and less of collecting member dues.

In order to do the former it has to do the latter .

As in all things you don't get something for nothing .

Me I view my dues as an investment , that has already paid me back 10x my investment .Others in the same locale may get the same rates , because employers match pay rates , but if you did not have those union rates to match everybodies income would be less . The advantage for the union nurse is in the stability they can offer nurses , knowing that there workplace enviroment will not change from one day to the next and that the next day they go to work they will not be called to the office , then escorted off the facility , minus job .

I have no any problem with wealth or corporations per se as long as that wealth and power is gained legitimately and then not used to to reduce the relatively little wealth and influence of the workers and mom and pop small businesses .

KPA are you really happy with the present situation , where CEO's and wealthy control the lives of the 90% who are not unionized . They seem to be steering the economy well , with cycles of boom to bust . If these CEO's are so wonderful how come they never , forsee the problems that bring their businesses down ?.

The NNU will try to ensure employers stick to the applicable laws and policies of their facilities . NNU will advocate for laws they feel beneficial to Nurses and Patients .

With all due respect, WHEN you are an RN "working in the trenches" continually short staffed (compromising pt safety), you may feel differently.

Best Regards,
Diane, RN

An uber-union isn't going to fix patient safety. We're still going to be squeezed. The only difference is that we will lose the power to do anything about it. We'll not have the option of fighting or changing employers. The union will tell us what we can and can't do at work. If there is a problem with patient safety that is not our responsibility per the union contract and we try to address it, we'll find ourselves out of work with no place to go. Oh they'll be nice about it. They'll give us a transfer to some neglected clinic in southwestern Alaska.

I am not opposed to unions. What I am opposed to is a work environment where there is a single employer, a single union, and no room for individual voices/choices. The original purpose of unions was to represent workers in a one employer environment. It's a best option response to a really bad employment situation. Workers enjoy much more power when they can leave a job they do not like. In this respect, anti-trust laws are great. Our present economic problems would not exist if businesses had not been allowed to grow too large to fail. When all we have is government or quasi governmental businesses...ultimately the country will fail. We've seen it happen...Innovation goes out the window too. Without the profit motive or the flexibility to make ones job easier (can't do it that way, it's not in the book), nothing changes until the whole mess collapses under it's own weight.

As for the present. If a staffing shortage compromises patient safety, surely the nurse involved will document it. Otherwise, how is anyone to know there is a problem.